Out: DunnIn: Owens

Canada-based telecommunications equipment company Nortel, currently the subject of a formal SEC investigation into its accounting practices, announced several top management changes last week, and noted it would restate 2003 earnings downward by 50 percent. According to a Nortel press release, President and CEO Frank Dunn, CFO Doug Beatty, and Controller Michael Gollogly were "terminated for cause," to be replaced by William Owens, William Kerr and MaryAnne Pahapill, respectively.

The company's new president and CEO Owens has been a Nortel director since February 2002. Previously, he was chairman and CEO of Teledesic, and president of Science Applications International Corporation. A veteran naval officer, Owens also served as vice chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, and was the second-ranking military officer in the U.S. Last week, questions arose about Owens’ board directorships of at least 11 other companies, but the Financial Times reported on Monday that he would be resigning from his other board roles.